


'Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away

by Lilylovesbones



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Deaf Clint Barton, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Real MCU needs changing, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:00:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29263938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilylovesbones/pseuds/Lilylovesbones
Summary: After a mission returns an unexpected outcome, Steve and Bucky are left grappling with the aftermath. A difficult decision that could change not only their lives but those of the whole team has the duo question if the end of the line can mean different things now the future is in front of them.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

The facility was utterly filthy. Shards of broken glass littered the floors, the neon lights flickering in and out of life ever since Clint had cut off the generator before the team barged had in. Steve looked around, keeping track of every change of sound in his surrounding while the static in his left ear confirmed Bucky was tuned in and ready to shoot at the smallest sign of attack. 

The blood on the walls left him queasy but did not overly concern him - not the first time some of the agents opted out of captivity with a quick shot to the head. 

The propaganda and indoctrination still left many fearing a lifetime of imprisonment under international legislation far more than death. 

Usually the scientists tended to be more sensible about ending their lives but this time around even some of the white coats had ended up offing themselves - a bitch if they found some records left of the experiments they had conducted, according to Tony, due to the godforsaken secret code they had been using ever since the Winter Soldier had slipped out of Hydra control.

“Cap, do you copy?”

“Come in, Falcon. What did you find?”

Please don’t be experiments, please don’t be experiments, please don’t be experiments.

“Experiments, couple of them. Woman, early 30s, emaciated and heavily bruised. And a man, looks around 50 but can’t really tell for sure.”

Steve Rogers let out a sigh, shaking his head at the persistent horrors these guys forced him and the rest of the team to investigate. Some of the times, it was volunteers won over with promises of easy money and a better life, sometimes it was the promise of revenge. 

Wanda had explained how they had special psychs trained to exploit weaknesses to win over the support of local people, using pain and anger to turn the meekest of person into a potential weapon. 

Her eyes still held some tinge of the hurt she and her brother Pietro had been coping with when Strucker found them. The Avengers had been lucky to get them both, not only because of the amazing addition they made to the team but also because of the insight they brought with them about the consequences rash decisions and thoughtlessness could have on communities. 

Tony and Pepper had never been firmer than in their decision to redirect billions of funds from the September Foundation to launch one of the biggest psych support schemes available in the world to ensure no one else had to experience what Wanda and Pietro had gone through. 

The Twins’ direct involvement in setting up the program had done marvels to ensure it could launch quickly and efficiently, with Sokovia the first to benefit from an in-situ facility providing psychological and health support to locals, provided by locals.

“I fucking hate these guys," the Captain finally said.

“You kiss the sergeant with that mouth?” Clint came through from his perch on the western outside tower.

“Mind your own business on what he does with his mouth, thank you,’ Bucky sniped.

Clint and Bucky continued trading barbs on the intercom, making the Captain restless about potential distractions.

“Both of you pipe down. Eyes focused and be ready. I don’t like it when it’s so quiet.”

“Steve? Third floor up, come straight in, should be clear,” Sam’s voice was evidently concerned so the Captain quickly made his way up to meet his teammate.

The room was dark, no window bar a tiny transom window at the very end of the area that looked like it had been previously been used as an infirmary.

Sam was standing at the very end of it, his back turned to the front door and head looking down.

Steve could hear him whisper in a soothing tone, a scene that slightly reminded him of Clint talking to Lucky whenever he became upset. But as Steve approached the Falcon, his thoughts quickly sobered up as he realised it was no dog cowering under the bed.

The eyes hit him first - too big for her face and of a blue that reminded him of the Irish Sea that time he and Buck had managed to sneak away for a couple of days and he finally got to visit his mother and father’s home country.

There, hiding under a ratty sheet, was a small girl who could have been no older than five. She was wearing a thin shirt and dirty jeans, her feet bare and sporting some concerning cuts on the sole. She looked defiant but Steve could see a hint of fear in her eyes.

“Hi? I’m Steve. What’s your name?”

“Are you the new handler?” the girl asked, her voice slightly wavering but matching the hard lines of her features.

Steve recoiled at the question, one Bucky had posed a few times whenever a nightmare had been particularly hard and left him confused about his whereabouts.

“No, I’m here to help if you’d let me. Those cuts look bad so I’d like to have a look, if I can.”

The girl looked down as if for the first time noticing she had been hurt and the movement had the sheet drop slightly to the side, revealing a bundle of clothes in her arms. 

It took Steve a couple of seconds to realise the clothes were moving, with Sam tensing at his side and visibly at the ready to intervene.

The men’s response had the girl snap up to attention and move her left shoulder backward, moving the bundle away from the two Avengers.

“No,” she said coldly and the sharp response sent shivers down Steve’s spine.

“It’s ok. Can you just show me what you’ve got there? We’ll stand right here, and you can take your time,” Sam said reassuringly as he gestured for Steve to step a couple of feet back to put some space between them and the girl.

The move appeared to reassure her, and she slowly unveiled her precious cargo. The bundle turned out to be a smaller child, roughly one but Steve wagered malnutrition had played a crucial role in the kid’s development.

“He’s cute. Your little brother?” Steve tried to sound calm but he’d never had any good understanding of how children work, even when it came to Bucky’s sisters.

“Sister,” the girls said, “I…She’s hungry but no one came down this morning.”

Steve and Sam looked around the room in hope of finding something to give both children while waiting for extraction but the only cabinet that looked vaguely able of containing sustenance had been destroyed.

The girl appeared to sense the thoughts of the two grownups in front of her and shrugged her shoulders: “They didn’t leave the keys. Had to use my hands.”

The gesture and the tone, apologetic with a hint of smugness, had Steve pause in awe at the reminder of another young child who so often had to make up excuses whenever they got into trouble around the old neighborhood.

“It’s ok. Had to be done,” Sam said, “We’ve got some food outside for both you and your sister but I’m worried about your feet so is it ok if I carry you? You can still hold her, I’m pretty strong.”

She thought about it for a few seconds but appeared to conclude the best outcome for both herself and her sibling was to trust the men. 

The girl nodded but pointed at Steve in doing so: “You take us.”

Steve was taken aback by the conviction in the young girl’s voice but obliged after sharing a look with Sam. 

Hadn’t it been a weird situation, the Captain would probably have teased his friend mercilessly for the snub. 

But the girl was wary and he was mindful the girl and her sister had been under Hydra’s control for what looked like at least a couple of weeks and he did not want to risk any exaggerated reaction from her.

He bent down and removed some of the shards from in front of the girl to better allow her to scoot over before picking her up. Steve stood carefully, making sure not to jostle them too much as he signaled to Sam to move ahead.

“Steve, what’s going on? You’ve been quiet for a while in there,” Bucky’s voice came in unexpectedly despite the Captain still distantly aware of his presence outside.

“We’re coming out,” Sam replied as Steve’s hands remained busy with the girls.

“Winnie.”

The girl had spoken again but her voice appeared to have become more timid without the protection the bed frame had afforded her until a few minutes earlier.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Steve asked as he sidestepped some debris to gain access to the stairs.

“Her name’s Winnie,” the girl said nodding down at her sister.

“That’s a lovely name. But you still haven’t told me yours,” he tried to go for nice but the adrenaline that took over during missions still had his comment come out rather gruff despite his interlocutor being a child.

"Sarah. My name is Sarah.”


	2. I'm sorry, they're what?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back at the Tower, Tony dishes out some confirmation that plunges Steve and Bucky into a major panic spiral, leaving the pair wondering how the hell they're going to handle the newest residents of the Med Bay.

"Come again?"

"You know those weird Sci-Fi movies where they'd take one DNA, mix it with another DNA, and BAM child? Yeah, that's pretty much what happened," Tony explained for the 100th time as he dropped heavily into a swivel chair.

"But how?" Clint questioned, for the 100th time, "I mean, I know Hydra's being doing weird shit for decades but this's really pushing it too far even for them."

Bucky and Steve remained silent on the couch where they had crashed what now seemed ages ago, their composure fully gone now the two girls had been dropped off to the Med Bay – a nightmare both had wanted to quickly forget because of Sarah's screaming.

A kid. Well, two kids, their kids. Bucky could not believe it.

He had struggled to see himself as a father figure, the absence of his dad weighing heavy on him as he cared for his sisters as his mother silently struggled to put together enough money to keep them all fed and clothed.

Steve hadn't said a thing as he brought the girls onto the plane for evacuation but his stare spoke a thousand words - he looked terrified but Bucky already knew he was hooked.

No matter what Tony and the other docs would tell them about them, Sarah and Winnie were going home with them.

Bucky could see the stare of complete defiance fill in his best pal's features yet again, the very same he would sport whenever taking another shiner for refusing to back down.

Buck knew he was in trouble because there was no way he could say no to Steve when that look was on.

It was, really, a matter of self-preservation for both of them.

Confirmation that Hydra had messed up with their DNAs, again, only seemed to reinforce Steve's conviction that the girls were not going to go anywhere without his say-so.

And well, they had their blood so surely they had a say on what would happen to them?

Tony's voice brought the former soldier back to the moment.

"Have no fucking clue. On the one hand, it's a scientific breakthrough," Tony could only shrug as Sam looked at him as if he'd sprouted an extra head, "What? It is."

"Do you have any idea how much people who struggle to conceive would pay to get this tech? Ethically, it is despicable, especially how they went about it, but scientifically have to say it's intriguing."

Clint and Sam groaned at the tech genius but he didn’t seem to mind as he grumbled: “Hell, my kid’s got powers through genetic experimentation.”

“Does Spider-boy know you call him that? Suddenly got fatherly, Stark?” the Winter Solder said in an attempt to break the weird tension building up.

He already had a headache, he didn’t need Sam and Tony to get themselves into one of their weird-ass arguments.

“Out of the two of us, you’re the one who’s got two kids to bring home today, not me,” Tony teased.

Shit. He did. Two kids. Two girls, and damn if that didn’t have his stomach somersaulting.

Because he knew, and Steve knew by the look he threw his way when Tony’s zinger registered, that there was no way he could cope being a father to two daughters.

Bucky’s ma always teased him for giving into Rebecca and Rachel’s smallest request, whether it was braiding their hair before school or taking them to get some ice cream whenever he got extra cash.

Two daughters, one of whom had inherited Steve’s striking green eyes, were going to be his undoing.

On the other side of the chair, Steve had pretty much reached the same conclusion. If he had been a sucker when it came to Bucky, Sarah and Winnie were going to give him hell.

“We’re going to see the girls,” Steve said standing up and catching Bucky’s hands in his with ease.

The Sergeant stood and fell into step with the Captain, knocking his shoulder with his elbow in protest for being forced up without warning.

They ignored their teammates’ remarks about mother-henning “their girls” and telling them about showing up for dinner in a few hours.

The pair walked silently to the elevator, both too lost in their own thoughts to say anything despite the urgent need to discuss what they were going to do.

The tension appeared to increase with every second waiting for the door in front of them but Steve had never been one to shy away from confrontation – bar when the endless times he became overcome with fear before confessing his love for his best friend.

Bucky sensed the turmoil raging inside the Captain and stepped aside into a side room to achieve a semblance of privacy.

“Friday, secure the room, please,” Bucky said as he closed the door, “And Clint, you’d better be out of those vents within the next 10 seconds or your husband is going to complain about another scar.”

A muffled “spoilsport” could be heard as the Hawk slowly made his way to the next available exit door.

“So…Winnie and Sarah, eh? Guess Hydra still has some good researchers,” he said.

“I just can’t believe it, Buck,” Steve let out all the tension he had accrued since the start of the mission, “I can’t believe they’d do something like that. And for what?”

“Come on, Stevie, you know. Sarah’s five - that’s pretty much when they lost me,” the soldier noted, “They needed a substitute.”

“But they’re so tiny. Super serum or not, they’re small and frail and they need to be protected.”

“Oh God, you sound like me in ’38,” Bucky let out a small laugh, “You kept getting into shit with that Ghirardelli boy no matter how many times I told you to leave him be.”

“He was harassing the girls at the soda shop...” Steve said dropping his head.

“Hey, hey, I know. Still doesn’t mean I wasn’t worried every time you left the house,” Bucky explained as he took hold of Steve’s face, “Got me so worried all the time, doll.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No worries. Gave you a fair share of problems myself since, didn’t I?” Bucky said shrugging, “What’re we going to do?”

Steve hesitated. He suddenly felt 18 all over again, a duffel bag filled with all he could manage to carry away from his ma’s home after the funeral and finally giving into the fact Bucky had been right in saying he’d need help now she was gone.

Bucky had been a little shit about it, as expected, looking at Steve with a smug smirk while still pretending not to have expected him to show up in front of his apartment.

Steve had wanted to kiss him then, just to wipe that expression off his face.

He didn’t, too much of a chicken when it came to affairs of the heart. It had taken yet another round of pneumonia for Steve to get his head out of his ass and speak the words to his best pal despite the absolute sense of dread slowly taking over him. _“_

_End of the line, punk. If I get to kiss you on the way there, just another perk,” Bucky had said before finally kissing him._

“We said the end of the line, Buck. If that comes with two girls doing our heads in with all their growing pains, teenage dramas and “us”-inspired shenanigans, I’ll take it,” Steve said firmly, “But I want you to be sure as I am. Because if we’re doing this, we’re doing it together.”

Bucky huffed, his head crashing into Steve’s left shoulder in a well-practiced manner that came with years of trusting his partner to support him through the endless crises their lives seemed to keep producing.

“They are just like us, Stevie. That’s terrifying. I keep telling myself that we’re nothing like our mothers, there’s no way we can make it.”

“Buck…”

The soldier finally lifted his head, turning slightly to look into the Captain’s eyes: “But then I look at them and think, ‘they’re ours. They’re our kids,’ and goddammit, Steve, if there’s anyone who can handle a small, female version of us is, well, us.”

“I’m not going to lie, Buck, it will be hard. But I love you and you love me and we’ve got plenty to spare. And while you know damn well I have no clue how to handle girls, I’m willing to try to make sure those two get the best in the world.”

Bucky let out a deep breath before squaring his shoulders and looking ahead with a new sense of conviction in his head.

“Guess you’re a dad, punk.”

“Guess you’re a dad, too, jerk.”


End file.
